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“Do you think Kallus would let me dye his hair?”
“What?”
“Do you think that Kallus would let me dye his hair?”
Sabine looked down from her bed onto the ground where Ezra sat, cross-legged, eyes closed, half-used spray paint canisters floating in front of him.
It was some time in the afternoon and the two hadn’t been needed anywhere near the command center at Yavin IV, nor anywhere else for that matter, so they retreated into the comfort of their original home on the Ghost .
Sabine had gone into her room first, having something she wanted to work on; a blank spot above her bed she’d been meaning to paint when Ezra wandered into her room, bored, and stayed to meditate. Since then they hadn’t said much to each other, both enjoying the comfortable silence between them until an idea suddenly came to Sabine and she blurted it out.
“You want to what?” Ezra questioned, opening his eyes, the canisters slowly lowering until they were back onto the floor.
“Dye Kallus’ hair,” she repeated, leaning over the side of her bed, “Do you think he’d let me do it?”
Ezra looked at her with a bewildered expression, mouth open, hesitant to answer her question. “Why Kallus?” He asked, “Why not just dye your hair again?”
Sabine blew her bangs out of her face, frowning, “Because I just dyed my hair last week and I don’t want to re-dye it.” She pulled at a few strands and let them fall back into place, “I can only do this so much, or else I’ll mess up my hair. That’s why I dye it once or twice every year.”
“Oh…” Ezra muttered, “I didn’t know that…”
“That and it would be easy to dye Kallus’ hair,” Sabine explained, not hearing Ezra, “He’s got light hair so it’s easier to put the color in. Anyone else; you, Zeb, Kanan,” she listed, “I’d have to bleach your hair lighter for any color to show up.”
Ezra’s hand went to his hair at the mention of his name. He made an uneasy face, unsure how he felt about Sabine dying his hair because he quite liked the way his hair was. Though, Kanan or Zeb getting their own hair dyed seemed funny enough.
“And…you don’t have to do that for Kallus?” Ezra questioned, slowly moving his hand away from his hair.
“Nope,” Sabine answered with a sigh, flopping back down onto her bed, and staring up at the half-finished blank spot on her ceiling.
“With Kallus, I could just put the color in,” Sabine continued, “it would be easy and fun.”
“I’m not sure Kallus would think so,” Ezra chuckled, thinking about Kallus having bright orange or teal hair like Sabine previously had.
“Yeah, I don’t think so either,” Sabine snorted, no doubt also thinking about Kallus with bright hair, “but do you think I could convince him to do it?”
“I doubt it,” Ezra huffed, sounding rather disappointed, “I could try doing a Jedi mind trick, but I don’t think that’ll work.”
“Yeah…” Sabine muttered, “best we don’t try that.”
“Do you think Zeb could convince him?” Ezra suggested, tilting his head up towards Sabine’s bunk, “Y’know like…” he trailed off, making vague gestures with his hands.
Sabine sat up and made a face, “I don’t like what you’re insinuating.”
“I’m not insinuating anything!” Ezra exclaimed, eyes wide, voice nervous as he rambled, “I was just saying- Just mentioning that…That Kallus tends, keyword: tends, to listen to Zeb more so than us.”
Sabine looked over to Ezra, eyes narrowed slightly, “More than you, you mean.”
“I mean-“ Ezra stammered before giving up and shaking his head, “Whatever, yes, more than me, but then if that’s the case, why don’t you just ask?”
“Because I don’t want him to say no?” Sabine replied, groaning.
“Wow, you really want to dye his hair, don’t you?” Ezra chuckled, grinning in amusement.
“Yes!” Sabine groused, clenching her fists, “His hair’s like a blank canvas! And it looks so much better now that he’s growing it out!”
Ezra shrugged, “I’m with you there…” He stood up, wiping down the front of his jacket, “I think you should just ask him. Then if he says no…” he beamed, pausing for dramatic effect, “We could just…put the dye in his shampoo?”
“That’s a horrible idea, awful, really,” Sabine responded, rolling her eyes before jumping down off her bunk, and landing next to Ezra, “Let’s do it.”
Before Ezra could respond, the door slid open to reveal Zeb standing there, arms crossed, eyebrow raised in suspicion.
“Do what?” He asked, looking between the two.
“Zeb!” They exclaimed, both of them tense. Their sudden alarm and nervous voices further raised Zeb’s eyebrow and his suspicions.
“What’s goin’ on?” He questioned, eyes narrowing slightly as his eyes darted between the two.
“Oh, nothing,” Ezra dismissed, waving his hand as he and Sabine slowly made their way around Zeb and out of the room, shuffling into the hallway, “we were just uh-“
“Going to go and see if Hera needed us!” Sabine supplied, giving Zeb her best convincing smile, though she knew Zeb usually could see through her lies. It was one of the downsides to having known each other for so long.
“Yeah right,” Zeb scoffed, stepping away from the room so that he now blocked their exit, “What are you two really up to?”
Sabine and Ezra looked at each other with pursed lips, unsure how to answer Zeb. On one hand, they didn’t want to tell him, should he disagree and warn Kallus of their plans but on the other hand, Ezra was right about informing Zeb in hopes he could help them convince Kallus to let Sabine dye his hair.
“ You wanna tell him? ” Ezra muttered to Sabine in Aqualish, a language he’d been practicing with Sabine to use in situations such as this; where they didn’t want a third party listening in and understanding what they were saying.
“ Not really, ” Sabine replied, in Aqualish as well, “ but I guess I have to .”
“Hey, hey-“ Zeb interrupted, glaring at them while unfolding his arms to wave a hand in front of them. He hated whenever they did this. “Quit doing your…secret code talk-“ he implored, “It makes you both look a lot more suspicious.”
Sabine sighed and looked to Zeb, finally answering him; “We want to dye Kallus’ hair.”
“You want to what ?”
“By ‘we’ she means her,” Ezra clarified, pointing at Sabine, “I’m just going for moral support.”
Zeb looked between the two of them, suspicion and irritation replaced with confusion and interest. “Hold on, hold on,” he urged, waving his hand again, “You want to do what to Kallus?”
“Dye his hair,” Sabine answered, enunciating every word while also pointing at her own hair in case Zeb needed a visual to better understand.
“Dye his-“ Zeb blinked, shaking his head before continuing again, “Why do you want to dye his hair?”
“Because,” Sabine shrugged with a grin, “his hair is the perfect canvas. Don’t you think so?”
“I’m not going to verbally answer that,” Zeb muttered, ear twitching.
“C’mon, you know how I have to bleach my hair to dye it?” Sabine asked, folding her arms.
“Yes,” Zeb nodded, shoulders slumping, “I know because you ask me to help you sometimes and my fur gets bleached.”
“Not my fault,” Sabine defended, “I told you to be careful.”
“Alright, alright, so Kallus has light hair,” Zeb concluded, getting where Sabine was going, “Is that really the only reason why you want to dye his hair?”
“Basically,” Sabine responded simply, “that and I’m bored and this would be fun.”
“Plus,” Ezra spoke up, “it might make Kallus look cooler.”
“It’ll make him stick out like a sore thumb,” Zeb huffed, disagreeing with Ezra with a disapproving shake of his head.
“So are you in?” Ezra asked, ignoring Zeb’s counterargument.
“In?” Zeb questioned, eyes widening, “What do you mean ‘am I in?” He made quotations with his fingers.
“We were wondering if you could convince Kallus to go along with it if he doesn’t want to,” Ezra explained, sounding a bit hesitant, “Y’know because…well-“ he motioned vaguely with his hands.
Zeb made a face, one that dared him to explain further, “I’m not following.”
Ezra opened his mouth to explain when Sabine covered it and laughed nervously, “What Ezra is trying to say is he’s wondering if you want to come with us? To ask Kallus and then maybe dye his hair?”
Zeb thought for a moment, looking back at the two in silence, eyes squinted in contemplation. On one hand, he totally wanted to see Sabine dye Kallus’ hair, it would be hilarious for sure, but on the other hand, should something go wrong, he did not want to be associated with the two. He had to play it safe.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to sit this one out,” Zeb finally answered, shaking his head, “and I’d suggest that you both rethink this.” He tapped on both of their foreheads with his finger.
“Aww…” Sabine frowned, scrunching her features when Zeb tapped on her forehead before she finally removed her hand from Ezra’s face, to reveal an open mouth frowning Ezra.
Zeb folded his arms, “I’d rather not get involved, thank you very much.”
Unfortunately for Zeb, it didn’t seem like the two teenagers were done saying their piece, despite Zeb saying his.
“Zeeeeb,” Sabine pleaded, grabbing his arm, something she hadn’t done since they scooped up Ezra, and hung there limply with a frown. “C’mooon…”
Ezra grinned, eyes lighting up in delight as he did the same, but on Zeb’s other arm. “Pleaseee Zeb?” He begged, tugging, “It’ll be fun!”
“Highly doubt that,” Zeb huffed, lifting his arms up so that the two of them were now covering just a few centimeters off the floor, glaring between the two of them.
Despite it though, he was biting back a smile, amused that Sabine was reverting to her old ways of hanging on Zeb whenever she wanted something and that Ezra was joining in as well. Though any other person might be irritated by two teenagers hanging on them, begging to go mess with their somewhat significant other, Zeb was grateful for these rare moments that gave them the chance to be exactly that: teenagers.
That did not, however, mean he agreed with their antics.
“I already said no,” Zeb reminded, lowering the two back onto their feet, “if you two end up doing something like-“ he hesitated, thinking, “-something like putting dye in his shampoo, I don’t want to have to deal with a grumpy Kallus.”
“Fine, fine,” Sabine muttered, letting go.
“Wait, how did you know about the shampoo?” Ezra questioned, also letting go.
Sabine shushed him, waving a hand up in his face.
Thankfully Zeb didn’t seem to hear Ezra, but if he did, he was just ignoring the comment. Instead, he stepped to the side and held an arm out, motioning them to take their leave.
“Now, I’m not gonna stop ya,” Zeb started, “because I know in the end my words mean pretty much nothin’ and you guys just do what you wanna do anyway, but-“ he looked at them, eyes narrowed, “Should Kallus ask, I was not involved and I knew nothing about this from the start.”
“Aye aye,” Ezra nodded, saluting Zeb with a wide grin that told Zeb, that when push came to shove, Ezra would totally rat Zeb out to Kallus.
“Don’t worry big guy,” Sabine assured, patting on Zeb’s arm when she passed by him, “we won’t do anything that will piss him off. Promise.”
“Holdin’ you to that,” Zeb grunted, nodding curtly as the two of them walked down the hallway, already giggling and whispering before they even were out of earshot of Zeb.
Zeb’s ear twitched, catching his own name in the quiet mumble of giggles and before he could ask, Sabine turned around just before the hallway turned a corner.
“Hey, by any chance,” she started, voice a little loud, “would you happen to know where Kallus is?”
Zeb blinked, thinking before giving Sabine a shrug. “Dunno,” he answered, “he’d probably be somewhere at the Command Center. If not there, in the barracks.”
Sabine frowned, clearly she wanted a more precise answer, this one just meant they’d have to spend some time looking, but she took it anyways with a wave and a ‘thanks!’ Ezra also thanked Zeb with a thumbs up, biting back comments about Zeb not knowing where Kallus was only because Sabine was already leaving and he didn’t want to get left behind.
Now alone, Zeb wondered if he should give Kallus a heads up but his original intentions to take a nap won out and he headed to his bunk with images of Kallus with various colored hair flipping through his thoughts. He would be lying if he didn’t admit that a few of the images made him chuckle or that his thoughts validated him not giving Kallus a heads up, thus leaving him at the mercy of Sabine Wren and to some extent, Ezra Bridger.
It was enough for Zeb to nap easily because he knew that despite his sibling’s love for pranks, he knew they wouldn’t overstep boundaries like that. Well, maybe Sabine a little more so than Ezra, but his point still stood.
Away from the cabins, Ezra and Sabine walked into the main room of the Ghost , both of them surprised to find both Kanan and Hera sitting at the table drinking cups of what looked to be caf. Why they were doing so in the middle of the afternoon was beyond the two, but they decided that it was best to not ask questions. Instead, they left that to the adults.
“Where are you two going?” Hera asked, raising an eyebrow as she peered over her caf mug at the two of them. There was slight suspicion in her voice with only a tad bit of amusement, a tone she usually held whenever she found the two together.
“We’re going to find Kallus,” Sabine answered. If she couldn’t lie to Zeb then there was no way she could lie to Kanan and Hera, that was just asking for it at that point.
“Kallus?” Kanan questioned, misty eyes staring at a space in front of him, his side facing the two teenagers, “Why are you looking for Kallus?”
“I’m going to dye his hair,” Sabine explained with a grin.
Hera stopped mid-drink before looking at them with wide eyes while Kanan turned towards the two of them with a blank expression, mouth open.
“Or…” Sabine corrected, his grin turning into a nervous smile, “I’m going to ask if I can dye his hair, and then if he says yes I’m going to dye it…?”
It was quiet for a few more seconds, the aching sounds of a resting Ghost louder to Sabine than normal when Kanan finally spoke.
“It’s times like these that I wish I had my sight back.”
“Kanan!”
Hera gave Kanan’s shoulder a smack, Ezra stifled his laughter with a nasty snort, and Sabine’s mouth fell open at Kanan with a speechless response. That was not at all what she was expecting, but it was, in some ways, a better reaction and one that made Sabine chuckle a bit in amusement.
“Sorry, sorry,” Kanan apologized, doing a terrible job of hiding his own smile, as he raised his hands in surrender, “I’m just saying that if Sabine does dye his hair, I wish I could see it. I’m sure it’s going to look great.” He turned to Sabine and gave her one of those proud smiles that made Sabine’s heart swell with pride and her features beam with confidence.
Hera sighed, head in her hand, and her other hand wrapped around her cup. She too was fighting back a smile, an image of a green-haired Kallus entering her mind, but still, she managed to give Ezra and Sabine a mom look as she instructed them to absolutely not, under no circumstances, dye Kallus’ hair without his permission. She made them both promise (to which they both did) and also made them promise to come back with Kallus should he agree so that she could see how it turned out.
It was one of those “be back for supper” trade-offs and soon Sabine and Ezra were back on their mission.
They left the Ghost once Sabine packed a bag of her hair-dying supplies she usually saved in the kitchen; a few canisters of various colors, some stained gloves, brushes, and a bottle of shampoo (just in case, Ezra said), and everything else she needed to make this a successful mission. At this point, she was sure if Kallus said no she’d be devastated so she became even more determined now to convince Kallus to let her dye his hair, one way or another.
“Where to first?” Ezra asked, looking over to Sabine for instruction, “Should we check his barracks first or the Command Center?”
Sabine thought for a moment, looking to the doors that led to the Command Center and then outside to where the barracks were all the while other rebels hurried about around them, fueling, cleaning, and maintaining ships in the hangar they were standing in.
After a minute or so of thinking, Sabine finally answered; “Let’s try his place first. I’m afraid that if we head to Command they’ll have something waiting for us now that some time has passed.”
“Good point,” Ezra nodded, cracking his neck with the tilt of his head, “let’s check there first then!”
They had been right to check the barracks. Upon entering the various buildings designated for the rebels who didn’t have a ship to stay in, they ran into a few friends who informed them that they had just seen Kallus head to his own room, just moments ago.
No less than five minutes later, Ezra and Sabine were standing in front of Kallus’ door, waiting for either him or one of his roommates to open the door.
“What if he’s sleeping?” Sabine suggested with a frown, nervously tapping at the straps of her brightly decorated bag. They had knocked maybe a minute ago and they hadn’t gotten a response, so Sabine was worried something was up.
“Well then, guess I’ll just-” Ezra started, bringing up a hand and knocking louder on the door before he shouted, “Hey Kallus! It’s Sabine and Ezra!”
“Ezra!” Sabine scolded, reaching out to grab him by the back of his collar and yank him back so that he was no longer practically pounding on the door.
“What?” Ezra questioned, eyes wide, “He’s bound to have heard us now.”
Sure enough, just a few seconds after Ezra had knocked for a second time, the door slid open, revealing a slightly annoyed Kallus who stood with his arms folded, dressed in his usual attire minus the jacket.
The two teens quickly went quiet, Sabine let go of Ezra and stood up a little straighter while Ezra waved at Kallus and gave an awkward smile; “Hi!”
Kallus raised an unamused eyebrow, but returned the wave with the mere swift motion of one of his hands, untucking it from underneath his arm before letting it rest back where it was. He looked between the two, taking note of the backpack and nervous smiles and with a sigh, he asked, “What do you two want?”
“Well hello to you too,” Ezra scoffed, mocking offense. He mirrored Kallus, arms crossed, hip popped out and when Kallus noticed he grumbled something inaudible and unfolded his arms to instead rest his hands at his hips.
“Okay, I suppose that was rude of me, my apologies,” Kallus acknowledged with the slight nod of his head, “but the question still stands.”
He looked between the two teenagers, a wary expression on his face as it was not normal for them to visit him at the barracks. Normally, it was Kallus who went to them if he needed something and very rarely was it the other way around. Then when it was, it usually meant trouble for Kallus.
“We just came to ask you something,” Sabine responded, clearing her throat. “Well, I came to ask you something,” she clarified, shifting the backpack on her shoulders, “Ezra just kinda decided to tag along.”
Ezra nodded in confirmation.
“If that’s the case,” Kallus mused, “what is it that you want to ask me?”
Sabine hesitated, glancing at Ezra before she spoke; “First you have to promise me that after I ask it, you give some thought to it instead of immediately reacting. Yes?”
Kallus raised an eyebrow at Sabine, it was an odd and suspicious request for the most part but if Kallus wasn’t interested in why these two were at his door, then he was now. However, he wasn’t too keen on upholding her request.
“That will have to depend on the question though,” Kallus informed, his voice blunt. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll react the way that you want me to.”
“Fair enough,” Sabine sighed, running a hand through her hair. She gave it a moment, peering over Kallus’ shoulder to try and look inside the room before she looked back at a confused Kallus who was currently glancing over his shoulder, following her previous gaze.
“You aren’t busy right?” She asked, “Like if Ezra and I steal you for a few hours, it won’t be a problem?”
Kallus looked back at Sabine, eyebrows furrowed in confusion; “That’s not your main question, is it?”
“It’s a precursor to it, yes,” Sabine answered, holding up a finger and waving it around in the air, “but you’ve got nothing else planned for the day, do you?”
“The whole day?” Kallus repeated in disbelief. Sabine nodded in confirmation, making Kallus frown in contemplation. The fact that she and Ezra wanted him for the rest of the day slightly concerned him and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear what Sabine had in mind.
However, he didn’t have anything else planned for the day. His duties had already been taken care of and if he was being honest, the rest of his day was supposed to be spent either sleeping or going through his next tasks on his datapad until his eyes fell out of their sockets. So maybe whatever Ezra and Sabine had planned would be better than his previous plans.
Kallus looked between the two and with a strained smile, he said; “Once you tell me why you’re here I’ll tell you whether or not I have stuff planned, deal?”
“That’s not fair,” Ezra muttered but Sabine nodded, smiling; “Deal.”
“So what is it?” Kallus asked, waving a hand in the air, “I doubt you came by just because you wanted to say hi.”
“You’re right on that part,” Sabine confirmed, “but you have to remember what I said about reacting suddenly.”
“To not?” Kallus questioned, tilting his head as a small grin started to tug at his lips, “How many seconds do you want me to give you? Is five enough?”
Ezra snorted.
“How about ten?” Sabine retorted, setting the backpack down.
Kallus eyed it for a moment before looking up at Sabine, “What’s the backpack for?”
“It’s part of the question,” Sabine explained, nudging it with her foot.
“Which is?” Kallus asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sabine knelt down and opened the backpack. Kallus’ gaze shifted back down on the bag and Sabine, his head tilted in an attempt to see what she was digging out from the bag while Ezra’s gaze was on Kallus, wanting to both gauge and see his reaction. From the bag, Sabine pulled out two of her canisters of dye and stood back up after slinging the backpack over one shoulder again. As she stood she grinned and she shook the two canisters, finally asking her question.
“Can I dye your hair?”
One second…two seconds…three-
“You want to what ?” Kallus blinked, stammering a bit as he spoke, mouth open in confusion.
Sabine frowned, dropping her arms down to her side, “You didn’t give it enough time.”
“What?” Kallus questioned, still rather caught off guard until he got what she was talking about. With the shake of his head, Kallus apologized and cleared his throat before he pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed.
“This doesn’t look good,” Ezra muttered underneath his breath, though this reaction was reasonable and to an extent, expected.
Sabine shushed him, before taking a step closer to Kallus to further explain herself.
“Look,” she started, “I just want to dye your hair a little bit, or a lot, depending on what you say yes to-”
“And if I say no?” Kallus questioned, taking a step back as the two started to walk towards him, hands held out in front of him.
“You don’t want to know,” Ezra answered, grinning mischievously.
“Excuse me?” Kallus stammered, eyes wide in disbelief.
“He’s kidding!” Sabine quickly interjected, stepping in front of Ezra so that he couldn’t continue further. She looked over her shoulder to glare at him in warning before turning back to Kallus.
The three of them were now inside Kallus’ barracks, the door sliding close behind them, leaving Kallus stuck in his room with the two teenagers. His other roommates were nowhere to be found, probably out doing their own things, but never before did Kallus wish that at least one of them was in the room with him like he was doing now.
“So can I?” Sabine asked, holding up one of the dye canisters with a hopeful smile.
Kallus blinked before shaking both his head and hands. “Why do you want to dye my hair?” He questioned, moving his hands to his head, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing’s wrong with it!” Sabine assured waving a hand as if to calm Kallus down.
Ezra poked his head out from behind Sabine before walking around her to get to Kallus. He squinted up at him, eyeing his hair, hand on his chin before he pointed up at Kallus’ hair.
“I mean, there are a few gray hairs you might want to cover up,” he pointed out before looking over at Sabine.
Kallus glared, Sabine stifled a laugh.
“There’s going to be more if you two continue to pester me,” Kallus warned, though he looked mildly distressed about having visible gray hair.
“Ezra has a fair point,” Sabine concurred, “but I’m more focused on the fact that it’s a very light color!”
“What does my hair color have to do with it?” Kallus asked, slowly removing his hands from his head.
“Does nobody here dye their hair?” Sabine wondered aloud, a hand on her hip, “How is it that I’m the only one who understands what you have to do in order to dye hair?”
“To be fair, I think you are the only one who dyes their hair,” Ezra pointed out, frowning.
Sabine rolled her eyes, sighing, “Alright, fine, yes. But back to your question-” she pointed at Kallus, “Your hair is a perfect canvas because it’s so light. It makes it easier for the color to stick.” She shook one of the canisters and held it up to Ezra’s hair and gave it a spray, making the boy jump in surprise.
“Sabine!” He yelped, eyes wide and hands hurriedly going up to his hair.
“See?” She announced, motioning to Ezra’s hair that looked pretty much the same despite her just spraying some green into it.
Kallus blinked, a little caught off guard by the sudden visual presentation on Sabine’s part, but i was enough for him to have to hide an amused grin over Ezra’s reaction behind a gloved hand.
“Alright, I get your point,” Kallus nodded, clearing his throat as he lowered his hand.
Ezra looked between them, frowning as he still tried to see if somehow his hair was now green. At most, the tips of his gloves came back a dull green from the spot where Sabine had sprayed, but there were no mirrors around to tell him the extent of the damage.
“Relax Ezra, you can hardly see it,” Sabine assured, shifting the backpack around and pulling out a colorful towel from the bag to hand to Ezra. “But if it makes you feel better, you can wipe it off with this.”
Ezra took the towel with a ‘thanks’ and quickly began patting his head with it while Sabine went back to convincing Kallus that this was a really good idea that he should absolutely be a part of.
“If you had darker hair, I’d have to bleach it and that takes a lot of work,” She explained, Kallus’ eyes on the muttering Ezra who was trying to get the dye out, “but since your hair is fairly light, I don’t have to do that.”
“So why me?” Kallus questioned, his eyes shifting from Ezra to Sabine, “Why not some other person with lighter hair?”
Sabine shrugged, “You’re the first one who came to mind. Besides, I don’t really know anyone else well enough to ask.” She trailed off a little bit at the end, almost sounding sheepish about the fact.
It was a true statement though, out of anybody else who had light hair on Yavin IV that could serve as a potential canvas, Sabine knew Kallus the best and therefore he came to mind first before anyone else. Since the rebel’s narrow escape from Thrawn and the Empire, the two of them had gotten to know each other a little bit better and were able to bond over shared experiences like their time at the Imperial Academy or over interests in things like art. It was an unlikely pair, for sure, but if anyone asked, they would admit to being friends.
So maybe that was why Kallus was actually thinking about agreeing to Sabine’s wishes.
Over time, Kallus came to admire Sabine for her cleverness when it came to strategy and weapons but also for her talents in the arts, whether they were taking about a mural on a blank wall on Yavin IV, a bright tag on the side of the Ghost , or even her beautiful ombre hair she changed once or twice every year. That was why, on some levels, Kallus trusted Sabine with his hair just as much as he’d trust her on any other mission. Now, he wasn’t so sure if he agreed that dying his hair was a good idea but he knew that once Sabine set her heart on something, it was hard to deter her from it.
“Alright, fine,” Kallus huffed, finally giving in to the two of them, hands held up in surrender. Sabine immediately burst out into a grin while Ezra stopped messing with his hair with the dyed towel to stare at Kallus with wide eyes of disbelief.
“Really?” Sabine questioned eagerly, the happiest Kallus had seen her in quite some time. It was even enough to make Kallus smile just slightly as he nodded in confirmation.
“Yes, you can dye my hair,” he affirmed, “but this isn’t permanent, right? It’ll come off?”
“Eventually, yes,” Sabine nodded, still grinning, “Usually it takes a few months and it’ll gradually fade, but with these-” she shook the canisters in her hands, “-these usually don’t last that long.”
Kallus eyed the canisters, debating if this was an idea worth agreeing to. If it wasn’t long-lasting and possibly a color that wouldn’t make him stick out, then how bad could it be? Besides, Sabine knew what she was doing, she had experience with this so it wasn’t like Kallus was going to make a terrible decision by agreeing.
Oh kriff it , Kallus thought, I’m only going to live once anyway. Might as well spend it doing things I would have never done if I stuck with the Empire.
“Well, if that’s the case,” Kallus mused with a hum, “then I don’t see why not.”
He knew that he would probably, most likely, regret this later. On the other hand, he also knew that if he said no, he would also very likely regret it as well.
“However, let it be known that I’m only agreeing because I know that if I don’t, you two will just find some other way to dye my hair,” Kallus clarified, holding up his hands and glaring specifically at Ezra.
“What?” Ezra laughed nervously, “We’d never do thaaaat…”
He took the backpack from Sabine and quickly stuffed the bottle of shampoo dye to the bottom of the bag so that it was nearly completely out of sight. Sabine gave him a look for doing so, but at least now Kallus could trust them to not tamper with anything to color his hair without knowing. Could trust though, not that he would.
“Also, how come you agree to do the things Sabine asks but you don’t for me?” Ezra asked, changing the subject with a frown.
“Because I can trust Sabine,” Kallus answered simply, giving Ezra a fond roll of his eyes, “and don’t act like you didn’t guilt trip me into doing your cleaning duties on the Ghost for a week.”
“Oh yeah,” Ezra muttered, blinking in remembrance.
“So I’m guessing you have everything you need to do it?” Kallus inquired, shifting his attention from Ezra back to Sabine and her backpack.
“Yup!” Sabine chirped with a crisp nod, “I just need a sink and you need something to wear that you don’t mind possibly getting dye on.”
“Alright,” Kallus nodded, mentally going through the very little clothes he had before deciding he could just wear that faded pink poncho he found in the lost and found items a few days after formally joining the Rebellion.
Sabine walked over to a nearby table and dumped the contents of her bag onto an empty space. Ezra followed after her, eyes wandering around Kallus’ shared room before he plopped on down at one of the chairs and watched as Sabine organized the different colors into a neat collection. Meanwhile, Kallus went through his things until he found the pink poncho and slipped it on over his head, half of him telling him to back out and the other half eagerly anticipating the results.
“Okay,” Sabine announced, blowing some loose strands of her bangs out of her eyes as she looked over her stuff and then back at Kallus.
“Nice poncho,” Ezra commented, grinning at the sight of Kallus in it.
“Thank you,” Kallus nodded, taking it as a compliment even though he knew Ezra was only teasing. He turned to Sabine, spreading his arms out, “Does this work?”
Sabine nodded, “That’s perfect.” She pulled out an empty chair and gave the top of the back a pat, motioning Kallus to sit down. He did as he was instructed, with little hesitation, his eyes scanning over the various colors she brought in her backpack while Ezra grinned at him from across the table, sitting at the edge of his own chair in anticipation.
“So what am I supposed to do?” Kallus asked, raising an eyebrow and looking up as Sabine took off her normal gloves and put on clean ones.
“Just sit here,” she instructed, “oh, and choose a color.” She motioned over to the canisters, turning around a few so that Kallus could read the colors.
“Does it matter the color?” Kallus asked, glancing back at Sabine. “Do certain colors stay longer than others?”
Sabine made a so-so motion with her hand. “To some extent, yes,” she answered, “usually the really bright ones will last longer than the duller colors. Why?” she tilted her head, “Are you wanting something that won’t last long?”
“Preferably,” Kallus nodded, “if that’s possible.”
Sabine thought for a bit before snapping her fingers with a grin. “It’s possible,” she assured, “and I got just the color!”
Kallus watched as she grabbed a canister on the far left, a color he barely got a glimpse of and therefore had no idea what it was, but before he could ask about what she had in mind, she was already getting to work.
With two simple shakes, Sabine got started on Kallus’ hair, first spraying to check if the color was right and to see if the can had enough. Once that was confirmed, Sabine grabbed a few clips and started pinning back certain strands of hair back so that she could focus on different sections of Kallus hair.
“Wow, Zeb was right,” Sabine muttered as she ran a hand through Kallus’ hair, “you do have very nice hair.”
“Wait really?” Ezra questioned, perking up. He jumped up from his seat and rounded the table to take a look for himself, reaching out and touching a few strands of Kallus’ hair before letting it fall with quiet whispers of awe.
“It is nice!” Ezra whistled, “So soft…”
“Hey, hey,” Kallus quipped, bringing up a hand to wave Ezra’s hands away from his hair, “What’s with all the muttering and touching?”
“You just have really nice hair,” Sabine commented, lightly shoving Ezra out of the way, “we’re just admiring it.”
Kallus huffed, unsure how to feel about that.
Instead, he glanced up, some of his bangs in his face, “What color did you decide on anyway?”
“You’ll see,” Sabine answered with a hum, shaking the can behind Kallus’ head.
Kallus bit the insides of his cheeks, now a bit unsure whether or not he trusted Sabine that much. But Sabine knew color better than him and he was already sitting in the chair, so he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and braced himself as Sabine began to spray color in.
The process took surprisingly long, Kallus found since he wasn’t familiar with the whole ordeal of having to dye hair. However, because of how long it took just to put the color in, he started to understand why Sabine wanted to dye his hair versus someone elses’. He couldn’t imagine how long it would’ve taken had they needed to bleach his hair first.
In that time that they sat there though, they had a few decent conversations between the three of them. They talked about their past and future missions for the rebellion ( “Y’know it would be funny if you had to go undercover with bright purple hair.” - “It’s not purple is it?” - “No, but at least now you have somewhat of disguise for future missions.” ), Ezra tried pressing Kallus to spill the beans on him and Zeb ( “So…you and Zeb? What’s going on there?” - “It’s complicated.” - “Why did Zeb say the exact same thing?” - “Because it’s complicated.” ), and Sabine and Kallus chatted about artists while Ezra stacked the dye canisters with the Force ( “Have you seen Aduir’s newest collection?” - “I did. I love the way that they use color. It’s absolutely fascinating.” - “That’s exactly what I said when I saw it! Though I wish there was more in this collection.” - “You and me both, Wren.” ).
There weren’t many times when the three of them could sit and talk like this in a relaxing environment with little to no worries about what was going on outside their little circle, so they didn’t take the moment for granted. Kallus hardly ever got time off to do things with the two teenagers and very rarely was it something simple like this. It was times like this that they were grateful for, no matter how much Kallus found the two to be annoying at times or how strange it was at times for Sabine and Ezra to hang out with the guy who once swore to have them captured one day. It was a nice change of pace from everything and Kallus almost forgot that the reason for it was because Sabine was dying his hair.
He was reminded when Sabine stepped in front of him with dark stained gloves, beaming as she looked proudly at Kallus the way she often did whenever she finished a work of art she particularly enjoyed.
“Done!” She announced, Ezra joining her side to get a good look at Kallus’ new hair.
Kallus blinked and glanced up, he couldn’t quite see his hair, but it certainly felt a little heavier and a lot wetter from what it had been before she had started. “That’s it?” He asked, reaching out from underneath his poncho to touch his hair when Sabine quickly stopped him with the wave of her hand.
“Don’t touch it!” she exclaimed in warning, stopping him right before he could reach his hair. “You have to wait at least thirty standard minutes for the color to set in,” Sabine explained, motioning Ezra to set a timer on the chrono with the nod of her head, “then I have to wash out the dye in a sink.”
“So it’s going to take a few more minutes?” Kallus asked, lowering his hand with a frown.
Sabine nodded, “Just a few more and then I’ll really be done.”
Thirty standard minutes later filled with a few stretches, a quick game of Sabacc, and an argument of whether Kanan was the worst cook or Zeb was; Sabine was finally done.
“What do you think?” she grinned, stepping back as she let Kallus take a look at his new hair in the mirror.
Kallus stood in front of the mirror, pink poncho and all, staring at his reflection with a slightly open mouth expression, in awe of what Sabine had managed to create.
What had once been strawberry blond was now a beautiful dark gray to light ombre slicked back wonderfully with a few stray strands rebelling from the way Sabine had brushed his hair back. The color wasn’t expected, but it was subtle and nice enough that Kallus really enjoyed Sabine’s choice. Once again proving that he was right to admire her artistic talents.
“It’s actually…” Kallus trailed off, bringing a hand up to tuck stray strands back, “not that bad.”
He smiled, giving Sabine a look of approval so that she could relax, rest assured that Kallus didn’t hate the colors she gave him. It allowed her to drop her tense shoulders and sigh in relief, the start of an accomplished grin starting to form when Ezra gave his opinion.
“You look like an old man,” Ezra deadpanned.
Silence followed by slow glared suddenly filled the room, heads turned towards Ezra who was staring blankly back at Kallus’ reflection in the mirror. Whatever previous atmosphere of accomplishment and relief was quickly disrupted by the simple comment.
Ezra blinked, suddenly noticing the two pairs of narrowed eyes at him before he stammered an explanation out that did little to help him. “Well, older than you actually already are…” He clarified, vaguely motioning to all of Kallus before he coughed awkwardly, “Since y’know…you’ve got all gray hair instead of just a few.”
Kallus sighed, dropping his hand and muttering a; “…thanks, Bridger.”
“You’re welcome, gramps,” Ezra smiled, saluting Kallus.
Sabine sighed, shaking her head as she turned to pick out a different canister, “I can add some color if that helps?”
“Please do,” Kallus answered with a nod.
Then it was back to the chair, back to waiting, back to washing out the dye and drying the hair until finally, it was back to the mirror once again.
“There!” Sabine announced, beaming as she motioned to Kallus with jazz hands, “ Now it’s finished!”
To combat the fact that Kallus did look somewhat older with the gray hair, Sabine had added bits of light pink in certain areas of Kallus’ hair so that it didn’t overpower the gray or make him look completely old. In the parts that had been darker gray near the scalp, Sabine had taken the liberty to add bits of dark purple as well, a color that mixed well with both the pink and the silver, tying the two colors together in a look that Kallus didn’t think he could ever pull off until now.
“Wow,” He whispered, staring back at his reflection in quiet awe.
“Do you like it?” Sabine asked, her proud smile turning into one of slight nervousness as she looked to Kallus in anticipation while anxiously fidgeting with her hands. On the surface, it did seem like Kallus liked it somewhat, but Sabine wanted to know for sure. She had to hear it from him or else this whole ordeal from a random spark of inspiration would have been for nothing.
“I think it looks nice,” Ezra commented, staring up at Kallus’ new hair. “It’s definitely going to catch a lot of people’s eyes, but in a good way!” He quickly clarified, hands up in case anyone decided to jump on him.
No one did, Sabine merely shot him a look and Kallus chuckled, shaking his head lightly. “You’re right,” Kallus acknowledged, “this is definitely…different and will therefore draw attention but,” he turned to Sabine, smiling, “I like it.”
Sabine let out a breath, “You do?”
He nodded. “Once again you’ve proven yourself to be a miraculous artist,” Kallus praised, “I was right to trust you with something like this.” He motioned up to his hair.
“Yes!” Sabine cheered, pumping a fist into the air with a wide grin. She laughed, feeling the satisfaction she often felt whenever she finished a task or project she had her heart set on. It was even more so fulfilling now because not only did she get some verbal affirmation from Kallus, but she also managed to not totally kriff up with something she knew meant a lot to Kallus; his hair.
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Sabine sighed, hand on her chest, “I’m so glad you like it.”
“I do, I genuinely do,” Kallus assured her, though it was strange that he did.
A few years ago he would have hated it, would have never agreed to something like this, but now? Now things were different and Kallus was different. Now Kallus was himself, his true, authentic self and apparently that meant that Kallus said yes to these sorts of things. Real Kallus trusted people to make good decisions on his behalf in risky situations where the outcome could be particularly devastating to Kallus.
Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, as this was simply only dyeing hair, but the point still stood.
Looking in the mirror, at the Kallus with the now stained pink poncho (that coincidently matched his new hair) and colorful grown-out hair with the two eager teenagers standing behind him with wide grins, Kallus felt that warm sensation he often felt whenever he was reminded of the life he was living and the life he left behind for it. It was an odd sensation that he didn’t quite have the word for yet, but it just felt right .
Agreeing to random requests from an artistic Mandalorian in the middle of the afternoon to make the sudden commitment to have colorful hair for the next couple of weeks or months indeed just felt right .
“Now we just have to dye your beard too,” Ezra claimed, grinning as he pointed up at Kallus’ beard.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Kallus muttered, shaking his head as he stroked his beard. Thought it might make everything match up, dyeing his hair was enough. For now.
“We could always do that another time,” Sabine assured, “Besides, I haven’t exactly done anything like that before so I can’t guarantee it’ll come out as great as the hair did.”
Laughing, Kallus brought both hands up to smooth back his hair, grinning at the image in the mirror before he turned around to face the two teenagers, both of them looking shocked and delighted at the sound of Kallus’ laugh and the sight of his wide smile.
To be honest, though Sabine was grateful that Kallus did like the outcome and was even more so grateful over the fact that he even agreed to let her do it in the first place, she didn’t believe that Kallus would be so gleeful over it. Even though she had gotten to know him better over these last few months, she never would have thought he’d get this ecstatic over hair dye. Then again, she knew how much he cared for his hair so maybe it wasn’t so hard to believe.
Ezra, on the other hand, was staring back more so in disbelief because he couldn’t believe that Kallus had one, actually agreed, and two, liked what became of his hair. It wasn’t that Ezra didn’t think that Sabine did a good job, no, she did a great job, in fact, but it was just baffling to think that Kallus would be one to enjoy it. Kallus just didn’t seem like someone to like pink hair dye in his hair, but hey! Now that Ezra knew that Kallus did know how to have some fun, it gave way for a lot of potential future things to ask of Kallus.
“Actually, I love it,” Kallus decided, giving Sabine’s shoulder a squeeze, “You did a wonderful job.”
Sabine’s smile couldn’t get any bigger. “Thank you,” she gushed, “for that and for agreeing to do it in the first place.”
“Of course!” Kallus smiled, pulling his hand back, “I was a bit hesitant on the idea at first, but now that I’ve seen the end result…” he trailed off, vaguely motioning around him with the wave of his hand.
“Understandable,” Sabine nodded before pointing at Ezra. “It was good you agreed because Ezra here was going to put the dye in your shampoo anyways,” she exposed him with a mischievous grin to which Ezra responded with wide-eyes and frantic stammers.
“No, I-I wasn’t!” Ezra lied, laughing nervously, “I have no idea what Sabine’s talking about!”
“Oh, I believe her,” Kallus spoke, voice unamused though he was fighting back a smile, “it sounds like something you would do.”
Ezra gave up, shrugging as he smiled sheepishly, “Can you blame me? I wanted to see what you’d look like with a different hair color.”
“Well, now we know,” Sabine chuckled, “Now it’s a matter of seeing what everyone else thinks.”
“I can tell you now that they’re all going to be pretty shocked,” Kallus hummed, pulling the poncho over his head, “this is probably the last thing they expected me to do.”
“Oh, I so want to be there when Mon Mothma sees you!” Sabine exclaimed, nearly jumping up and down in excitement.
“Me too!” Ezra chimed in, raising and waving his hand. “I feel bad for Kanan though,” he added, frowning as he lowered his hand, “He wanted to see the end result.”
Kallus also frowned at the mention of Kanan, not out of pity but because he knew Kanan would have to “see it to believe it.” Sabine telling him that Kallus’ hair was now silver, purple and pink simply wouldn’t be enough to convince him.
“Ah, that’s unfortunate,” Kallus muttered, folding the poncho over in his arms.
“Still,” Sabine started, shaking her head with a small smile, “he’s not going to believe that you actually let me dye your hair.” She paused, eyes lighting up suddenly with an idea, “Maybe now he’ll let me dye his hair!”
“Yeah!” Ezra nodded, snapping his fingers, “and maybe Kallus could convince Zeb to let you dye his hair or fur!” He turned to Kallus with a grin, “Y’know since you’re-“ he waved a hand in the air, making vague, insinuating motions with his hand that made the tips of Kallus’ ears turn the same shade of pink as his hair.
He ignored that though and instead pointed at Ezra. “What about you?” He asked, “Does this mean you’ll also let Sabine dye your hair?”
Sabine turned to Ezra, putting her hands on her hips. “Yeah,” she murmured, “if they all agree then you should also.”
“What?” Ezra questioned, laughing nervously, “What happened to really dark hair is annoying to dye?”
“Oh, it is,” Sabine assured, nodding her head and already changing her mind about how much of a pain bleaching hair was, “but think about how cool it would be if we all had some sort of hair dye!”
Ezra thought for a bit before he sighed and gave in. “Alright fine,” he agreed, “but only if you let me choose the color.” Ezra held out a hand, wanting Sabine to shake on it.
“Deal,” Sabine grinned, shaking his hand.
Kallus smiled at the two of them and laughed at the thought of the rest of the men of the Ghost in various colors; Ezra with bright orange hair, Kanan with a dark red, Zeb with blue hair and silver fur. They’d all stand out for sure, but at least that would be fewer undercover missions. Which was something Kallus could definitely live with.
“Alright then, let’s go ask the others!” Sabine decided, packing up her stuff into the backpack, the same light and determination in her eyes and voice from the moment she announced she wanted to dye Kallus’ hair returning once again.
Ezra and Kallus took note of the tone and turned to each other with knowing smiles before they joined Sabine and headed out of the room, the three of them set on getting Zeb and Kanan to agree to do the same as Kallus had done.
Just before they headed onto the Ghost’s ramp, Ezra running ahead to call for Zeb and Kanan, Kallus finally got the chance to tell Sabine how he really felt about the end results of the whole hair dyeing excursion.
“Sabine,” Kallus reached out, putting a hand on her arm, making her stop and turn around to face him, “really, thank you. I know this is probably silly, but it’s moments like this that help me find myself and I’m…well, grateful.”
Sabine smiled softly, eyes clear with one word: understanding.
She gave Kallus’ arm a pat. “Glad to help,” Sabine responded with a nonchalant shrug, “who knew dyeing hair would do the trick?” She winked at him, making Kallus understand that Sabine’s knack for dyeing her own hair was something she also did to find and express herself. No wonder it did what it had done to Kallus.
Kallus laughed, nodding in agreement; “Who knew?”
Some risks really were just causes worth dyeing for.